DUBAI: United Arab Emirates (UAE) coach Aaqib Javed is hoping the series of four One-day Internationals against Afghanistan starting this week in Dubai will help prepare his team for next year’s World Cup.

The February-March World Cup will be UAE’s second after they featured in the 1996 event held in the subcontinent while for Afghanistan it will be their maiden appearance in a 50-over tournament.

Aaqib, a former paceman and member of the 1992 World Cup-winning Pakistan team, said he would have liked his side to compete against a full Test-playing nation.

“Look, it would have been ideal had we got a few matches against a top team but all of them are busy so even playing against a one-day status team will give us good preparation,” Aaqib said on Monday.

The four one-day matches will be played on Nov 28, 30, Dec 2 and 4 — all at the International Cricket Council (ICC) Academy in Dubai.

Aaqib said his team can still get to play top teams under an ICC High Performance Programme likely to be held in January next year.

Published in Dawn, November 25th , 2014